Augsburg Confession – Article 5 – The Ministry of the Word

In order that we may obtain such faith, God has instituted the ministry of the word [das Predigamt], namely the sharing of the gospel and the sacraments.1 Through these, as through means, he gives the Holy Spirit, who works faith where and when he pleases in those who hear the gospel, the good news that teaches that we have a gracious God through Christ’s merit, not through our own merit, when we believe this.2

And we condemn the Anabaptists and others who teach that we receive the Holy Spirit apart from the physical word of the gospel, through our own preparation, meditation, and work.3

1 Since the concept of the ministry is such a warmly discussed and debated topic in Lutheran circles today, a translation of the Latin version is also included here: “In order that we may obtain this faith, the ministry of teaching the gospel and dispensing the sacraments has been instituted.”

2 Much emphasis is placed on what is termed objective or universal justification today within the Lutheran Church, which is indeed a scriptural teaching (Isaiah 53:11,12; cp. the use of “many” in this sense in such passages as Matthew 20:28 [which is explained in 1 John 2:2]; 22:14; 26:28; see also John 12:32). (Note, however, that confessional Lutherans reject what is termed universal salvation or simply universalism [Matthew 7:13,14].) However, this article shows that it would have been unthinkable to the Lutheran confessors to talk about the gospel and salvation without talking about faith. Melanchthon here defines the gospel as “the good news that teaches that we have a gracious God through Christ’s merit…when we believe this.” To put it another way, borrowing from a paper delivered by a Lutheran seminary professor: “Paul and Silas’s response to the jailer at Philippi’s question, ‘What must I do to be saved?’ (Acts 16:31), does not need any hyper-orthodox correcting from us a la, ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved. Nothing. It has all been done for you by Christ. Away with this synergistic notion that you need to “do” something!’”

3 By the time this article was penned, Melanchthon (and to a greater extent, Luther himself) would have had a number of people in mind with this condemnation, including, but not limited to, Caspar Schwenckfeld, Thomas Müntzer, Nicholas Storch, Melchior Hoffman, Hans Denck, Ludwig Hetzer, Balthasar Hubmaier, and Ulrich Zwingli (on Zwingli, see here). Luther generally labeled people who believed that God operated outside of his Word and the sacraments, or communicated additional truth to themselves or others outside of his Word, Schwärmer or Rottengeister – fanatics or rabble-rousers. Anabaptist (German: Wiedertaufer) means “one who baptizes again,” a label that referred explicitly to the rejection of infant baptism and the resultant practice of being re-baptized as an adult. For more on the Anabaptists, see note 3 under Article 9.